Muhammad fails to justify selection over world No 1 Cook but will have another shot at medal

Britain's Lutalo Muhammad lost his quarter-final against Nicolas Garcia Hemme of Spain in the taekwondo under-80kg at ExCeL.

Muhammad was a controversial selection for the Olympic squad ahead of world No 1 Aaron Cook, but after a slow start beat Tajikistan's Farkhod Negmatov 7-1 in the first round.

The Londoner was again roared on by a
partisan home crowd, which on Thursday night saw Wales teenager Jade
Jones battle all the way to gold in the under-57kg.

Out: Muhammad (left) was beaten 7-3 by Garcia Hemme

Muhammad, European champion earlier
this summer at the under-87kg, tested his range with some head kicks in
the opening round, which ended scoreless.

Both fighters picked up penalties, which saw a tense second round end 1-1.

A head shot from Hemme, upheld on appeal, put the Spaniard 4-1 up with 90 seconds left.

Despite a rally from Muhammad, there
was no way back as he lost 7-3. The Spaniard's progression to the final, however, means that Muhammad has another chance in the repechage later.

Italian Mauro Sarmiento, silver medallist in Beijing, had pulled off a shock when he edged past top seed Ramin Azizov 2-1.

But any hopes Sarah Stevenson had of a
lifeline through the repechage ended when American Paige McPherson, who
had beaten her in the first round, was knocked out in the
quarter-finals by Nur Tatar, the world No 4 from Turkey.

Muhammad offered 'no excuses' not to have progressed to the semi-finals.

He said: 'The nature of sport is that it does not always go your way.

Down and out: Muhammad looks to the floor in disbelief after his defeat

'I thought I had a few head shots in there which could have scored, but there are no excuses to be made. I am very disappointed.

'I came here to win gold, and that is
an opportunity which won't come across again [at a home Games], but I
have to live with that, and if need be refocus and gather myself for a
possible repechage match.'

Muhammad insisted there had been no distractions.

'Not at all,' he said.

'I was not focused on that. It has always been my dream to win gold, but it was not to be today.'Muhammad's coach Joseph Salim admitted the whole saga may have played a part in the Briton's lacklustre showing.

'I am just as disappointed as Lutalo,
but it just did not go the way we wanted to today,' said Salim, who is
high performance coach at the GB Taekwondo Academy in Manchester.

'Of course this thing has affected
all of us, but he had to focus on today's fights and none of the
distractions which have been up until now.

Controversy: Muhammad was selected ahead of world No 1 Aaron Cook (above)

'That goes for all of us, we tried to stay as focussed as we could and we did a good job.

'But maybe there was distraction enough to distract today's performance.'

Salim reiterated it had been a tough decision to choose between the athletes.

'It was a close call. Both Aaron and Lutalo are great fighters. It was a hard decision to make. Aaron could have been here today,' he said.

'Lutalo's performance have just been rising, which is why he was picked.

'It is hard to say if Aaron would have done better today.'

Cook, who left the elite performance programme to train independently after a disappointing early exit from the 2011 World Championships in Korea, has expressed concern over whether he would be chosen to represent Britain at future major international tournaments.

However, Salim said: 'The door is always open to Aaron, and whomever wants to make the team.'